>> Ben Clark
While boulevard gardens are a common thing in and around Oaklands, there is currently no community garden in the neighbourhood. A survey was done recently to ask residents if they support the Oaklands Community Association working toward building a community garden, and what type of garden they would like to see.
Gardens in parks and other shared spaces have many benefits. They are a way for people that live in apartment buildings to have a space to grow their own food, a place for neighbours to come together and work on something that doesn’t require a whole lot of skill or tools, and a great way to increase the amount of food we eat coming from close to home.
Other neighbourhoods have a variety of different types of gardens: allotment gardens where people have their own plot of land, communal gardens where the whole garden is a shared space, community orchards with fruit trees, and native plant gardens. These are all examples of the different forms that these spaces can take while adding vitality to an area.
Community gardens can also be partnerships with local businesses and restaurants and provide them with some of the herbs and produce they use in their daily menus, providing a link between local businesses and the neighbourhoods of the people that support them. Another function that a garden can take is a space for supplies and tools for people working on their own gardens. Something that has been talked about lately at City Hall is that residents could use a distributed network of garden and landscaping support centres that have mulch, cardboard, compost, and other gardening tools available for use.
There is an inspiring and growing amount of food gardening happening here in the Garden City, and community centres can play an active and supporting role.
Speaking of community centres, Saturday December 12th is a big day for all ages at Oaklands Community Centre. In the morning there’s the annual Breakfast with Santa, and in the evening is the Seniors’ Dinner. For more information on those events, and to see the results of the community garden survey, head over to www.oaklandscommunitycentre.com.
